Mideast

The imperialist euphoria that had afflicted the world is dead. The wounded beast is crying. The Emperor has declared war as if he were on a science fiction film set. It is not known to whom, it is not known when, but he will send his mercenaries somewhere to revenge the suffered humiliation. The supposedly biggest military power ever has been hit in its most sensitive point: its alleged invulnerability. After the first moments of panic and disorientation, so-called “national pride” is resurging in the USA thus spreading the most terrible imperialist and revanchist sentiments.

Salameh Kaileh is a Palestinian-Syrian author, political activist and Marxist intellectual representing the Syrian Left Coalition. He was arrested anew on April 24, 2012. Having been tortured, he was eventually deported from Syria where he had spent three decades and out of that eight years in prison.

The following leaflet has distributed at the weekly Syrian solidarity rallies in down-town Vienna, Austria. It is a reaction to some voices within the Syrian community (both secular as well as Islamic) who not only address the western powers but directly call for a western military intervention. The reaction of the organised Islamic milieu was astonishing. They defamed us as Gaddhafi supporters, despite the fact that we from the very beginning defended the democratic demands also in Libya while opposing the NATO aggression and its local auxiliary forces on the ground. The hidden pro-interventionists counter the warning against NATO by equating those who reject an intervention as supporters of Gaddhafi, Assad etc.

A new spirit is spreading in the Arab region taking different shapes of movements for democracy, social justice and national sovereignty. Although in each country the movements are occupied with the local condition, a new Arab spirit is being born among the popular masses, who again have shown more political courage, sense for organisation and clarity in their demands, not only more than expected, but also more than most of the opposition elites ever had.

The United States and their allies have started a neo-colonial attack on Libya, to intervene in a civil war and to install a pro-western regime, and last but not least, to halt the anti-imperialist dynamics of the democratic revolutions in the Arab world.